Jakro's MMA Musings

As rough as the event was in terms of names, it delivered a lot of finishes so all in all it was not bad at all.  Main Card Main event was over pretty much as fast as it started. Smith and Clark did not really exchange much, as Smith closed the distance and in the clinch, Smith took Clark down. Smith had a little while of top control before getting reversed, but locked up triangle from the bottom promptly after to get the tap. Smith showed that he is still a level above guys like Clark who really belong to the prelims. Co-Main was more tactical affair, where Baeza was running away with points by throwing volume while Sato tried to find the perfect shot. In the end Baeza took it down and got the submission to finish the fight.  Big boys Porter and Parisian but together a hard scrap that was one of the better fights of the night. They went after it from round one, both high volume and hard shots landing nonstop. Naturally neither had much gastank after first, but Porter had enou...

Man, this was a rough card even before the main event got dropped, and it only got rougher after that. On the positive side, it is just 10 fights, which is how I would like it anyway. If I could just have 10 fights squeezed into 3.5 hours every week, that would be the ideal fight event for me.  Main Event: Anthony Smith vs. Devin Clark Interesting fight. Smith is on the way down, Clark on the way up. Or rather, Smith seems to have been much worse than we thought he is, and Clark seems to be much better than we thought he is.  Smith's last fight is hard to judge much by, cause he got his leg compromised with chopping leg kicks early and then was content to just be top controlled into a decision. Clark has two wins in a row, but one against one of the worst guys in the division and second against a guy who was always likely to gas if you could just take him into deep waters. So all in all, I am not convinced Clark is class yet, but I have to admit he has definitely been improvin...

From betting standpoint, this was a very difficult event and lot of guys such a myself got absolutely destroyed. From entertainment perspective... Eh, it was so so, some good fights but lot of lulls in between. Main Card I said in Twitter that Perez was just a can for Figueiredo to crush, but rationally I can't possibly think that. Yet it's kinda the feeling you are left with for how easy it was in the end. Well, guess it never is as easy as it looks. Perez didn't like what was going on in the striking so he went for the takedown and after some transitions, Figueiredo snatched up the neck and squeezed with everything he got. Perez was so close to getting out, but just couldn't get that extra inch out and had to tap.  Valentina had a pretty stale fight with Jennifer Maia, despite Maia managing to look much more competitive than anyone expected. That's how Valentina's fights tend to be, as dominant she is, she tends to just edge decisions if she doesn't absolu...

The big pay-per-view event... well, it really doesn't feel much like that, feels like I am doing another Fight Night preview for the lack of star value and big fights. There is two titles on the line, but in the two most dead divisions in the UFC. At least we get to see Valentina kill someone again. Main Event: Deiveson Figuieredo vs. Alex Perez So these are your headliners. You and me of course know them, cause we are hardcores... but I bet lot of the casuals are going like WHO DA FOOK ARE THESE GUYS??? Anyway that doesn't matter. It should be action-packed fight between two high level fighters, that's all a guy like me cares about. Perez is a live dog and it would be interesting to have again a new champion in the division, but Figueiredo is kinda built like someone who could hold onto the belt for a while. It's a real shame Mighty Mouse is no longer in the UFC, cause it would have been a hell of a fight for him.  Deiveson has largely gone from strength to strength du...

We had a decent card this weekend. Lot of decisions in the prelims, but once the main card rolled around, the fights got more intense and we got couple of good KOs and back-and-forth main event. Gambling-vice it was also a good card with lots of value, as fights were largely straightforward but with decent odds.  Main Card Although RDA won clearly (despite one judge being on drugs), I still kinda felt like Felder was the one whose stock went up more from this. He had nothing to lose coming with a short notice and was still hanging in tight there with one of the best fighters in the world who also happens to be pretty bad stylistic match-up for him.  So RDA was always going to win this fight, and to that end lot of people would agree he did win almost every round. Still it was very competitive fight from start to finish, with both of them exchanging damage on the feet evenly, but with RDA's grappling giving him the advantage.  RDA is still world class, but it's hard to see...

Main Event: Paul Felder vs. Rafael Dos Anjos I am glad RDA finally has a winnable match-up. Felder steps in on short notice to replace Islam, who would have probably just wrestlefucked RDA just like all the high-level wrestlers RDA has faced lately have done.  RDA's record of late has been rought, going 1-4 in his last five fights, but I still believe the guy is a dangerous, capable fighter, just undersized for welterweight. Felder isn't going to wrestle him though and is a natural lightweight, so if RDA can't find a win here, it's pretty much over for him. That's not to say Felder isn't a tough opponent. The guy went earlier this year 5 hard rounds with one of the top contenders Hooker, and it was a really close fight.  Felder's career has been kinda funny, cause I look at his record and I really don't see him having faced anyone like RDA or even any heavily grappling based opponents. RDA of course has good wrestling and grappling, even if he has prefer...

So Glover is officially the light heavyweight GOAT. Favorites kept dominating, but couple of big underdog cashes spurred me into a big win in tonight's event. Main Card How good was that main event? Marreta started right away by hurting Glover with pretty much the first solid shot he landed, and it looked like the fight would not last very long. Glover had other ideas, as he did what he always does when he gets his bell rung - gets the takedown right into a dominant position.  Then it was smooth sailing for him for the rest of the round, as he worked the ground and pound. He kept on that successful formula in the 2nd, dominating in top position and accumulating damage on Santos. You would think that Santos would not have much juice left after taking a beating on the ground for two rounds, but no, the guy has so much power that even when faded, he was only couple of clean shots away from KOing Glover in the 3rd. Santos knocked Glover down, but it was just then when his fight IQ aban...

Main Event: Thiago Santos vs. Glover Texeira Athletic, powerful guy that tends to get sloppy versus older, more experienced guy with solid fundamentals. In general you know in these situations experience and technique win. Santos has looked great at light heavyweight and arguably beat Jones, but he did get serious injury in that fight and that might be a factor in this fight. As for Glover, there has been signs of his chin abandoning him, but ultimately he has not been KOd since 2017. All in all I would say this similar match-up to Texeira's last fight. Except Santos is much better. Either way love him or hate him, Smith has power, and he was unable to really make it count against Glover. Still, like I said, Santos is better, has more variety in his attack, and probably even more power. This is all set to be the kind of fight where Glover is winning... until he no longer isn't.  Can't really reliably pick either guy here. They are both old, that title fight with Jones might...